The Negro Digest
Encyclopedia
The Negro Digest was a popular African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 magazine founded in November 1942 by John H. Johnson
John H. Johnson
John Harold Johnson was an American businessman and publisher. He was the founder of the Johnson Publishing Company. In 1982 he became the first African-American to appear on the Forbes 400.ÀčĐċĎ- Biography :...

. It was first presented locally in Chicago, Illinois. The Negro Digest was quite similar to the Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...

; however, it was aimed to target positive influences in the African American community.

History

In 1942, when John H. Johnson
John H. Johnson
John Harold Johnson was an American businessman and publisher. He was the founder of the Johnson Publishing Company. In 1982 he became the first African-American to appear on the Forbes 400.ÀčĐċĎ- Biography :...

 sought financial backing for his first magazine project, he was unable to find any backers—black or white. From white bank officers to the editor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...

's (NAACP) nonprofit publication, all agreed that a magazine aimed at a black audience had no chance for any kind of success. Johnson then worked at the Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company and had the idea of funding the Negro Digest by writing everyone on their mailing list and soliciting a two-dollar, prepaid subscription, calculating that even a 15 percent response would give him the amount needed to publish the first issue. To obtain the five hundred dollars needed for postage to mail his letters, he had to use his mother's furniture as a security on a loan. Johnson titled the magazine The Negro Digest after the Readers Digest and reprinted articles by and about African American scholars from the African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 and Caucasian
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...

 media. However the Negro Digest, usually contained reproductions of whole articles instead of digest. The letter generated three thousand responses, and the first issue of Negro Digest was published in November 1942. But there were still obstacles to be overcome. Distributors were unwilling to put the periodical on their newsstands, for they too believed that it would not sell. Johnson persuaded his friends to haunt their neighborhood newsstands, demanding copies of Negro Digest. Joseph Levy, a magazine distributor, was impressed and formed an alliance with Johnson. He provided valuable marketing ideas and opened the doors that allowed Negro Digest to hit the newsstands in other urban centers. The very first issue of The Negro Digest sold about 3,000 copies. Additionally, over the course of six months the magazine published close to 50,000 copies per month. One of the most interesting and well known columns in the magazine was entitled "If I Were a Negro." This column concentrated strongly on the unsolicited advice that the African American race had received, by asking prominent citizens mainly of the white race for resolution to unsolved black problems. As a result of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...

's contribution to the popular column "If I Were a Negro," the copies sold doubled overnight. Following the year of 1945, John H. Johnson created other African American magazines including both Ebony
Ebony (magazine)
Ebony, a monthly magazine for the African-American market, was founded by John H. Johnson and has published continuously since the autumn of 1945...

and Jet
Jet (magazine)
Jet is an American weekly marketed toward African-American readers, founded in 1951 by John H. Johnson of Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois...

. As a result of the publication of these two magazines’ the circulation of The Negro Digest tended to decline. According to a New York Times article, it soon became unprofitable and ceased publication in 1951.

Rebirth

After the failure of the magazine in 1951, Johnson, along side with Hoyt W. Fuller
Hoyt W. Fuller
Hoyt W. Fuller born on September 10, 1923 in Atlanta, Georgia, was an editor, educator, critic, and author during the Black Arts Movement. Fuller created the Organization of Black American Culture...

 revived the magazine and gave it a different spin in the early 1960s. In 1970, the periodical was renamed Black World to more accurately reflect the array of audience it recently attributed. This extended from Africa and much of the African dipersal. The Negro Digest (now known as Black World) reflected Fuller's concerns with politics, social action, the spiritual and economic health of the black world, as well as a broad view of artistic expression. Despite its audience, the magazine was open to any ideas and opinions. By 1970, a typical issue contained approximately eight articles, a couple of short stories, poems, and a section called “Perspectives”, which was a collection of cultural information prepared by Fuller. A short reflective essay by Fuller frequently occupied the back cover. In 1976, Negro Digest (Black World) was abruptly terminated by the publisher, occasioning widespread protest in the Black Arts community.

Impact

The Negro Digest gave way to other African American magazines like Ebony (magazine)
Ebony (magazine)
Ebony, a monthly magazine for the African-American market, was founded by John H. Johnson and has published continuously since the autumn of 1945...

, Jet (magazine)
Jet (magazine)
Jet is an American weekly marketed toward African-American readers, founded in 1951 by John H. Johnson of Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois...

and Essence
Essence (magazine)
Essence is a monthly magazine for African-American women between the ages of 18 and 49. The magazine covers fashion, lifestyle and beauty with an intimate girlfriend-to-girlfriend tone.-History:...

. Additionally it impacted the Black Arts Movement
Black Arts Movement
The Black Arts Movement or BAM is the artistic branch of the Black Power movement. It was started in Harlem by writer and activist Amiri Baraka...

.
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